Are We Alone?

[Jamagei]

Ok, I know i have posted a Thread like this before, but i want some figures this time

Who out there thinks that we are alone in the universe?

[Jamagei]

Cheeky, you know if you were stood right in front of me, i still wouldn't hit you.

[Kzin]

Originally posted by Jamagei
Ok, I know i have posted a Thread like this before, but i want some figures this time

Who out there thinks that we are alone in the universe?

As a benchmark I need to know it you believe that there is intelligent life on earth

[Fried Egg]

Forget "intelligent" life, we don't even have an adequate definition of "life" let alone "inteligence".

Until we (the human race) fully understands what it is to be alive, our search for ET life is going to be difficult (if not impossible).

[jeroenh]

By the time man has a definition of "Life" than it is easaly found, because than we would be so far in the future that everything is possible.

I personaly believe that there's life on every planet. Some time ago som scientist published a article in nature stating that they found microbes that can only live in the Pool area's and they have found microbes that can only live within a vulcano. If this all is possible than it should also be possible to live in any other livestyle. Like for instance Mars.

It could just be that we can't find life on mars because we are looking for the same signs of live as we have here, but Mars beeing an other planet and all, it could be that life looks very diffrent from what we might know. Pherhaps it an energetic lifeform.

[Active]

If there is life only on earth...then it looks to me that
the universe is an awful wastage of space.

But We must Understand The Term 'life'.
We should not always think of a Multicellular form
or even a life that has constituent cells. Life is
Something that can be sensitive to it's Environment
and can replicate/reproduce.

Another Important thing is we cannot always expect
those life forms to be a source of EM radiation. ie..
We cannot be able to see them.

They may be there....at some black corner of the
universe and may use very high frequency energy waves
that are not palpable to human intelligence.

On such a note.. I even think the confetti/noise in
your TV when it is not tuned to any television stations might have some signals from our Counterparts.
We simply don't know how to decode that information.
Relax ! That's only My Hypothesis.

[barrk]

I'm never alone! I have a husband, three wonderful kids, a dog and a room full of engineers to keep me company........

[Fried Egg]

I believe the fundamental definition of life is:

'A pattern whose behavior perpetuates it's own existance'

A pattern being any constellation of energy or matter.

[Active]

room full of engineers


Husband -- OK
Children -- OK
Dog -- OK
Engineers - ???

[barrk]

I am one of three of us developers stuck in a room full of aerospace engineers......is it any wonder I'm a little crazy???

[Active]

I know that .... but Forgot that.

[Active]

But Do You work for NASA or its subsidiaries?

and You use visual basic for AeroSpace Research ...??
*Looks puzzled*

[barrk]

Nope...I'm a contractor for the Air Force....we use VB to design an interface to do post Flight Test analysis.

[parksie]

You and three other developers? Hmmm.......interesting

Sorry...I'll try harder in future

[Padrino]

I read in many books, and a techer once told the class about that! He explained how big is the earth on the galaxy (not in Universe). Alright...let say that the galaxy is the size of all North America, and the size of the earth would be...hmmm...the size of a tea cup! A tea cup in North America is not big...hehe! But!!! It's not all!! THis is ONE galaxy!! The say there's about 100 millions (and still counting) galaxies!! So it's practicly IMPOSSIBLE that we are alone in the Universe. And surely we're not the only intelligent lifeform! And don't forget...we've only been on earth for what...couples of millions years (humans I mean)....but approximatly the Universe started 4billions years ago!! But anyway, Ferrari rulez

[dimava]

you can help out by downloading SETI@home
which stands for Search for Extreterrestrial Intelegince (i know i made like 100 spelling mistakes there)

here is the download site:
http://setiathome.ssl.berkeley.edu


what happens is that a satelite collects sounds and waves from diffrent locations of the universe, and stores it in databases on the server computers

what this program does, is download a little of that info, scan it for any alien signs, and send back what it has proccessed

[Kzin]

Originally posted by barrk
Nope...I'm a contractor for the Air Force....we use VB to design an interface to do post Flight Test analysis.

So now I know! I've been wondering about where at Edwards Airforce Base VB would come in!

This probably is not the place to say it but I get so much hassle for using VB that I keep it as a kind of trade secret from people who don't appreciate RAD environments. (I hate to say this but did you think of MatLab for the Flight Test analysis?)

[barrk]

We use MatLab and origin....we display thumbnail results in VB though.

[Jamagei]

Hmmm, off the beaten track here a little bit folks.

Okay, what about silicon based lifeforms? Could they exist, and magic (i know i am heading into to the realms of fantasy here) but what if...

[Jamagei]

Basically what i am saying is, is there life out there that we may be able to communicte with or interact with. Please try and not be pedantic.

and if you are brain dead, generally your heart doesn't beat. Only with respirators, but you are classed as dead.

heres some school biology:

Mrs. Gren

Living organisms Move, Respire, are Sensitive, Grow, Reproduce, Excrete, and require Nutrition.

I appreciate that you accept I dont have the broader perspective you spoke of, but its important to draw a line between rules and theory. Without the rules of physics, chemistry and biology we currently understand, we could not have this thread, and without open-minded theory, it could not have progress. I was merely stating some more rules for us to work on.

Actually, Mrs. Gren doesn't apply to viruses (virii?), but biologist are unsure as to whether they are considered to be alive or not.

As an aside- what if beings lived in our space/time but in an alternative dimension, and if their perception of the world around us was different to our own? We could be invisible and undetectable to them as they could to us. One may be sitting next to you now and you would never know- i believe there are religions which touch on this.

Bringing us on to the subject of religion and gods...Some people believe that the "god(s)" of ancient religion (and possible modern religion too) were simply beings other than terrestrial humans. fascinating...

i'll try that first sentence again:

I appreciate that you were not accusing me of not having a broad perspective on this subject...

(I have, honest, I just can't type and think at the same time)

[Fried Egg]

It still remains for us to define what we mean by life or 'living things'. Until a definition has been universally established and accepted then we make it difficult for ourselves.

I have also heard the 'school book' definition of life and, to be honest, It doesn't hold much sway with me.

All they've done to come up with that is firsly, seperate all things according to whether we already belive they are alive or not, secondly, analysed all their common characteristics and thirdly generalised these 'commonalities' into a definition of life. The problem is, it only applies to life as we know it.

We need to come to a definition of life that does not begin with a premise of what is or what isn't alive.

Once this has been achieved, we might then be able to effectiveely proceed to seek out ET life.

[HarryW]

It's life, Jim, but not as we know it, not as we know it, not as we know it;
it's life, Jim, but not as we know it, not as we know it, Captain.

There's Klingons on the starboard bow, starboard bow, starboard bow;
there's Klingons on the starboard bow, starboard bow, Jim.

Star Trekkin' across the universe,
On the Starship Enterprise under Captain Kirk.
Star Trekkin' across the universe,
Only going forward, still can't find reverse.

[Fox]

*lol*

[parksie]

Hehe

[Jamagei]

*kicks Harry in the Shins*

do NOT degrade this thread like that.

Also, who was the skeptic who put 'YES'?

Ok, what about Roswell? have we been visited by aliens? are governments trying to cover these things up, if so, why? (conspiracy theories welcome)

[Active]

The RoseWell Incident is the best story anyone could
Write.. It is actually Pentagon's Research Vehicle.

I don't believe we have been visited by aliens.

[simonm]

Why would the American government get a chance to cover up alien contact? Infact, why would aliens only make contact with the American government? If an alien civilisation made contact with earth it would probably be on a global scale.

If they did make contact with just one person, who they thought was the biggest leader in the world, wouldn't they contact the pope?

[CyberSurfer]

or John?

[simonm]

Do you mean John Lennon?

[CyberSurfer]

Noooooooo, John Percival!! Our very own forum Pope!!

[Katie]

Would Aliens contact the Pope?!?!?!

Geesh! Are most people really catholic? I'm not sure I would consider the Pope to be the biggest world leader. But that could just be my agnostic roots speaking!

[Kzin]

Isn't the whole Roswell misconception the idea that an 'Alien' visit would consist of a couple of guys like us (ok a bit more spindly with funny eyes - but essentially 'human') in a thing like an airplane. Even stuff like Arthur C Clarkes "Childhoods End" and Fritz Leiber's "The Wanderer" are probably underestimating the possible differences.

Originally posted by Jamagei
Ok, what about Roswell? have we been visited by aliens? are governments trying to cover these things up, if so, why? (conspiracy theories welcome)

[Kzin]

Originally posted by Jamagei
are governments trying to cover these things up, if so, why? (conspiracy theories welcome)

Were the indigenous people of Australia and the Americas able to cover up European's visits from one another? No - and they were only separated from their visitors by a tiny technological difference and no difference in intellect.

To get a better idea of the possible span of ability - if you visited a colony of homo habilis while you were riding in say the USS New Jersey (the real one) would the ape-man alpha male be able to stop the others from seeing you? Would he learn much about technology that he could use if he examined your vessel. What do you think?


----
"If we ever get invaded by Aliens let's just hope that the are H.G.Well's Martians - we'd have them all in a zoo in 24 hours"


More about our chum HH http://www.wsu.edu:8001/vwsu/gened/l...habilis-a.html

[simonm]

Katie, I have no personal love for the Pope (being an athiest myself) but I would suspect that the pope has more followers than any other leader I know of.

[Katie]

Hmmm...I was thinking maybe Bill Watterson. He has a pretty good following!!

[Active]

Prophet Mohammed..Has the largest Followers.

[barrk]

Do you mean the largest amount of followers???